Background
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
Job Purpose and Organizational Context
UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa (RBA) supports Africa’s people, its governments and institutions as they seek to consolidate recent gains and effectively address the challenges that remain. These include persistent inequalities, weak governance institutions, climate change, rapid population growth, stalled industrialization and rising violence. At its New York headquarters, the Regional Bureau for Africa team provides overall strategic oversight, guidance and quality assurance, as well as management, partnerships and communications support and a broader regional analysis, including on global issues. Integrated within the RBA at the UNDP Headquarters in New York, the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD) Unit coordinates UNDP’s engagement in the organization of successive TICAD meetings and plays major roles in enhancing the TICAD process. This includes:
(a) Making substantive contributions to the formulation and finalization of strategic agendas;
(b) Identifying, formulating, and implementing country and regional projects to support TICAD priorities;
(c) Facilitating the effective management of TICAD follow-up actions and preparatory processes among co-organizers and stakeholders, including operational, logistical, communication, and advocacy support.
Overview of Japan Funded Projects
The TICAD Unit is instrumental in the provision of strategic and advisory outreach to facilitate collaboration between Japanese counterparts and UNDP country offices, particularly Japan funded projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. As of January 2025, the TICAD Unit is currently supporting the overview of 16 projects totalling 29.7 million USD in 13 countries.
The UNDP-Japan funded project implementation is a critical opportunity to promote TICAD priority actions in the field and through the improvement of human security on the ground. The TICAD Unit thus continued to support country offices to ensure a swift start to the newly approved projects under the Japanese Supplementary Budget (JSB) as well as grant projects that are approved throughout the year. This oversight support includes review of the project concept note, project document, implementation, communication, identification of projects, advisory on technical and operational issues, and monitoring and reporting. Support also includes the identification of resource mobilization opportunities by discussing with COs priority support areas, and the review of concept notes and draft project documents.
In 2025 with the support from the Government of Japan, RBA plans to implement strategic regional projects in the areas of enhancing the start-up ecosystem of Africa, unlocking trade and investment through the AfCFTA, and youth empowerment. With this background, the unit is seeking a capable project manager for the effective coordination and oversight functions of the regional projects across units and RBA country offices. Furthermore, the upcoming TICAD9 held from 20-22 August 2025 will provide an opportune platform for showcasing the impact of projects supported by the Government of Japan.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the TICAD Programme Specialist, and in close collaboration with the Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA), and the Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy (BERA), the TICAD Regional Project Coordinator will ensure the effective oversight of the regional projects and responsible for below:
a. Coordinate overall management and implementation of the regional projects to ensure the achievement of project targets and results:
- Monitors progress of the project activites against the project results framework and the approved annual workplan;
- Lead Quantum entries/reports covering activity definition, updated risk log and the monitoring schedule plan;
- Review and clear on a regular basis progress reports, deliverables, disbursements and budgets to ensure implementation is on track;
- Carries out regular follow-up and monitoring of implementation activities as well as regular monitoring and reporting on risks and mitigation measures;
- Ensures that all project deliverables have been produced satisfactorily and in accordance with the approved Annual Work Plan;
- Secures any support and advice required for the management, planning and control of the project;
- Lead the implementation of project monitoring, evaluation, and results framework to identify plan deviations and other problems; and make needed course corrections within agreed upon tolerances to achieve results;
- Collaborates and gains acceptance from the project donor for changes in the agreed project scope and budget.
b. Provision of operations services to the regional projects:
- Monitors financial resources and accounting to ensure the accuracy and reliability of financial reports;
- Process fund transfers to the respective implementing teams to ensure that the budget is created, raise the zero-dollar invoice to process cash transfer, follow-up on project association in Quantum, etc.;
- Provide financial support and advice to the project managers and team members;
- Provide monthly expenditure reports on the regional projects;
- Provide regular support for implementing teams to advise on operational matters;
- Contribute to the preparation of procurement plans of the regional projects;
- Provide support to colleagues on travel requests and payments;
- Closely monitors and controls project issues to ensure minimal impact to delivery;
- Prepare and follow up on approvals of budget revisions.
c. Reporting: Manage donor reporting and consultations in collaboration with the Partnerships Team, Operations and Finance.
- Manage progress reporting of the regional projects;
- Serve as the coordinator for donor reporting by leading the inputs of key results, lessons, and other aspects of ensuring sound reporting to the donor from the implanting team;
- Coordinate communication, advocacy, and outreach activities for the regional projects for the smooth implementation in line with the respective guidelines of UNDP;
- Coordinate the preparation of annual, ad-hoc project reports, submission, presentation to contributors, and other relevant stakeholders.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation.
Institutional Arrangement
The TICAD Regional Project Coordinator will report to the TICAD Programme Specialist, and will also coordinate with the implementing project managers of the regional projects. The Project Coordinator will be given access to relevant information necessary for the execution of the tasks under this assignment.
Competencies
| Core | |
| Achieve Results: | LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact |
| Think Innovatively: | LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems |
| Learn Continuously: | LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences |
| Adapt with Agility: | LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands |
| Act with Determination: | LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results |
| Engage and Partner: | LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration |
| Enable Diversity and Inclusion: | LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity |
Cross-Functional & Technical competencies | Thematic Area | Name | Definition | | Business Direction & Strategy | Business Acumen | - Ability to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome
- Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization and ability to make good judgments and quick decisions within such frameworks.
- Knowledge and understanding of the operational frameworks in the organization.
| | Business Management | Project Management | - Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals
| | Business Management | Resource Management | - Ability to allocate and use resources in a strategic or tactical way in line with principles of accountability and integrity
| | Business Management | Monitoring and evaluation | - Ability to systematically monitor results of strategies, programmes, and activities with a view to make sure that they are being implemented effectively; Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback and reporting on the consistency or discrepancy between planned activities and programme management and results.
- Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programmes and activities based on set criteria and benchmark, keeping in mind the needs and concerns of client, current and upcoming.
- Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, concepts, methodologies, systems, processes, and tools. Ability to make an independent judgement based on set criteria and benchmarks. Ability to anticipate client’s upcoming needs and concerns.
| | Finance | Budget management | - Ability to support budgetary aspects of work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets
| | Business Direction & Strategy | Systems Thinking | - Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.
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Minimum Qualifications of the Successful IPSA
| Min. Education requirements | Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in International Relations, Political Science, International Development, Project Management, Business Management, or related discipline is required. A first-level university degree (Bachelor´s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience, will be given due consideration in lieu of Master´s degree. |
| Min. years of relevant work experience | Minimum of 5 years (with a master’s degree) or 7 years (with a bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in project management and programming at the national or international level, including operational management and quality assurance of development projects is required; |
| Experience, Knowledge, and skills | - Demonstrated project management experience, including multi-tasking to lead and execute multiple time-sensitive projects in parallel is required;
- Experience of project financial management and coordination, including developing budgets and work plans is required;
- Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office including M&E Project Dashboards tools is required;
- Ability to plan, organize, implement, and report on work deliverables;
- Strong analytical, reporting, and writing abilities skills and experience;
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| Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section | - Experience working in developing country settings is preferred.
- Experience in project monitoring, especially with the Government of Japan funded projects is preferable;
- Proven knowledge of UNDP’s Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP) and familiarity with Quantum is preferable;
- Hands on experience in supporting the coordination of complex project activities and their concurrent implementation by the Country Offices and various partners is a clear advantage;
- Previous work experience with a UN organization and other international development organizations is strongly desirable;
- Knowledge and experience in the development context of Africa is preferred.
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| Required Language(s) | - Fluency in English is required.
- Knowledge of French is desired.
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Disclaimer
Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.
UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
Non-discrimination
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
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Level of Education: Bachelor Degree
Work Hours: 8
Experience in Months: No requirements